II Chronicles 6

1. Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

2. Now I have built a house for You to live in, and a place for Your dwelling forever.”

3. And the king turned around and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. And all the congregation of Israel stood.

4. And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel Who has with His hands fulfilled that which He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

5. ‘From the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt I have not chosen any city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, so that My name might be there. Nor have I chosen any man to be a ruler over My people Israel.

6. But now I have chosen Jerusalem, so that My name might be there, and now I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

7. And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

8. But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart.

9. But you shall not build the house.Now your son, who shall come forth out of your loins, shall build the house for My name.’

10. And the LORD has performed His word that He has spoken, for I have risen up in place of David my father and am set on the throne of Israel as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

11. And I have caused the ark to be placed in it, in which is the covenant of the LORD which He made with the children of Israel.”

12. And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands.

13. Now Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high. And he had set it in the midst of the court. And he stood on it, and kneeled down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.

14. And he said, “O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or in earth. You keep Your covenant and show lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

15. You have kept with Your servant David, my father, that which You have promised him. And You spoke with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

16. Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, that which You have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel if only your sons take heed to their way to walk in My law, as you have walked before Me.’

17. And now, O LORD God of Israel, let Your word be proven true, which You have spoken to Your servant David.

18. But truly, will God in deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of the heavens cannot contain You! How much less this house which I have built?

19. Yet You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant and to his cry, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant prays before You.

20. I pray that Your eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to hearken to the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place.

21. Hearken therefore to the supplications of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven, and hear and forgive.

22. If a man sins against his neighbor, and if an oath is laid upon him to make him swear, and if the oath comes before Your altar in this house,

23. Then hear from heaven, and do, and judge Your servants by repaying the wicked, by bringing his way back upon his own head, and by justifying the righteous, by giving to him according to his righteousness.

24. And if Your people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and if they shall return and confess Your name, and shall pray and cry before You in this house,

25. Then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again into the land which You give to them and to their fathers.

26. When the heavens shall be shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, yet, if they pray toward this place, and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

27. Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel when You have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

28. If there is famine in the land, if there is a plague, if blasting or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, if their enemies besiege them in the gates of their land; or there may be whatever plague or sickness;

29. Then whatever prayer, wh atever cry shall be made by any man, or by all Your people Israel, when everyone shall know his own plague and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house;

30. Then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know; for You only know the hearts of the sons of men.

31. Do this so that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

32. Moreover, concerning the stranger who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your great name’s sake, and Your mighty hand, and Your stretched out arm, if they come and pray in this house,

33. Then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all people of the earth may know Your name, and fear You as Your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.

34. If Your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that You shall send them, and if they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name,

35. Then from heaven hear their prayer and their cry and maintain their cause.

36. If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and if You are angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far-off or near,

37. Yet if they think within themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn and pray to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and have dealt wickedly,’

38. If they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they have carried them captives, and if they pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers and toward the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name;

39. Then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

40. Now, my God, I beseech You, let Your eyes be open and Your ears hear the prayer made in this place.

41. And now arise, O LORD God, into Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness.

42. O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed. Remember the kindness of David Your servant.”